Los Angeles Lakers: Kyle Kuzma plays well in return to lineup vs. Denver Nuggets

Kyle Kuzma returned to the court against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday and was one of the lone bright spots for the Los Angeles Lakers in the loss.

The Los Angeles Lakers had a difficult night against the Denver Nuggets. Los Angeles was returning home from their five-game road trip, riding a losing streak for the first time this season. Their road trip ended with losses to the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks.

One reason for those losses was injuries. Anthony Davis sat out the game against the Pacers because of an ankle injury suffered against the Atlanta Hawks. It was later revealed that LeBron James dealt with a thoracic muscle injury against the Bucks as well.

James was unable to suit up against the red-hot Nuggets, who entered Sunday’s game on a five-game winning streak and left with that streak intact, defeating the Lakers in dominant fashion, 128-104.

Denver took control of the game after halftime. They outscored Los Angeles 73-51 in the final two quarters, leading to the blowout win.

While it was disappointing to see the Lakers handled so easily on their return home, it wasn’t all bad. One positive from the game was that Kyle Kuzma was able to return to the court.

Kuzma had not played in a game since December 8th, when the Lakers faced off with the Minnesota Timberwolves, because of an ankle injury. Kuzma originally injured his ankle on November 29th against the Washington Wizards but tried to play through the ailment.

Eventually, the team decided enough was enough as his ankle was not healing as they had hoped. As a result, they held him out and he made his return tonight against Denver.

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Kuzma was supposed to be on a strict 20-minute limit but ended up playing 22 minutes against the Nuggets. He played relatively well, doing what he could to help replace the scoring punch that was missing with James sidelined.

Kuzma shot 7-of-15 for 16 points, second on the team behind Davis, who scored 32. The 16 points were the most points Kuzma has scored since November 27th against the New Orleans Pelicans. He hasn’t scored more than 16 points since all the way back on November 17th when he scored 17.

In addition to the 16 points, Kuzma added four rebounds with one steal and two blocks. Kuzma and Davis were the only Lakers players to score in double-figures in the game.

Hopefully, this is the start of a turnaround for Kuzma. He has battled injuries throughout the season and has yet to really get his feet under him outside of one five-game stretch earlier in the season.

The Lakers need Kuzma to get on track and become the third go-to scorer they had hoped he would be coming into the season.

While the team lost tonight, it was a good step in the right direction for Kuzma personally, as he made it through the game without any setbacks and played relatively well to boot.